Brewers Sign Braden Looper

He may not be CC Sabathia or Ben Sheets, but the Brewers did add a new starting pitching by signing Braden Looper on Thursday.

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel's Tom Haudricourt was all over the signing from beginning to end the past couple of days (at one point he got Looper's wife to all but admit the deal was being finalized as they spoke), saying that the deal was made officially earlier this evening, when Milwaukee designated catcher Vinny Rottino for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster for the new pitcher.

There's no firm contract details yet, but Haudricourt is reporting that it's a one-year deal with a mutual option for the 2010 season. For Looper, the deal affords a level of comfort; he gets to stay in the National League, and in the same division for that matter. The Rockies seriously considered shooting him an offer, but backed off, which might have been the moment that the Brewers really entered a full press to finish the deal. Of course, Baltimore pushed for Looper late in January, but the Rich Hill trade and Looper's option hopes for an NL team cooled that talk.

Does Looper make sense for the Brewers? Sure. He can slide into the three or four slot of the rotation and give them some depth on the hill. But he's no ace, and having Yovani Gallardo and Jeff Suppan try to fill the shoes of Sabathia and Sheets seems like a pretty big stretch, doesn't it?

Looper's press conference should come sometime Friday, assuming he passes his physical (there's no reason to believe he won't) and maybe we'll learn more about the contract and what kind of a deal Braden landed then.